Kim Tsai

For sophomores Will and Sam Guy, having a twin is a comfort. Home life is never lonely, and there is always someone to talk to. “He’s always there. We do almost everything together,” Will said. Will and Sam take Chemistry Honors, Art 2 and Spanish 3 together. They also compete in many of the same sports, including soccer, cross-country and track. “It’s competition to get better,” Will said. “With running, the competition is a lot more defined. But with school, we just help each other out there. I guess it’s all constructive.”

From April 11-16, 13 students will be traveling with history teacher Matthew Torrens and Media Arts Program Coordinator Kerry Mohnike to Washington, D.C., in order to learn more about U.S. history.

Where is AP Government and AP Economics on the course selection list? Don’t look too long—compared to many other schools, Saratoga High seems to be severely lacking in its variety in advanced history classes. This complaint sometimes arises as students fill out course request forms.

Although the current robotics team is only two years old, its members are confident and ready for the first part of FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) on March 17 in Seattle. Doing well in the Seattle Regional will allow them to move onto the Silicon Valley Regional and eventually the FRC Championships.

Like a lot of students, junior Rebecca Chen wishes there were more than 24 hours in a day. She goes to school from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then off to a 3-hour swim practice, followed by 5 or more hours of homework. She usually only gets 7 hours of sleep on a normal weekday.

As a freshman, ASB president David Mandell planned Spring Swing back in 2008, hoping to spread his appreciation for old music with his peers. Now as a senior, Mandell hopes to do it all once again through this year’s “Decades Dance.”

Sophomore Kendall Chicanowicz spends most nights in a leotard spinning around the floor of a Los Gatos Studio. As a ballerina, she must practice constantly to stay strong and limber. Ballet is a dance that requires discipline and precision.

In early December, junior Kellie Chiou rifled through her mail, placing junk mail in one pile and important mail in another. In her growing pile of junk mail were several letters from colleges, all claiming how great each was. Among others, Carnegie Mellon, Northwestern University and MIT seemed to guarantee her acceptance into their ranks.

As I headed to my car on a sunny Saturday morning, I was singing the lyrics to “Like a G6” by Far East Movement. I turned on the radio, and the same song blared through my speakers. Oddly enough, I was not too surprised.

Nikki de Roos, although only a freshman, is proving to be a key player on the varsity girls' water polo team. Relatively new to the sport, de Roos finds her passion in playing with her teammates.

Halloween costumes can be a difficult ordeal, especially if you have just decided to go trick-or-treating with your friends. Sometimes, you might not even have time to go shopping for a costume. So here are eight low-hassle costumes for everyone to enjoy.

At first glance, undervalued Chinese currency might seem like a serious advantage for America's economy. However, it is part of the reason the economy has not gotten better.

After a long season last year full of struggles and tough losses, the girls' water polo team has a chance to start over fresh. But with the graduation of several veteran players from last year, the team is struggling to overcome its lack of experienced players and must focus on training new players who have never played before. "The team has five new people who have never played before," said varsity goalie Allison Knysh. "A lot of the work is just teaching them how to play, and getting them caught up."

Senior Anthony Sutardja's car at first seems childish. After all, it contains stuffed animals, Winnie the Pooh stickers and kites. However, Sutardja's car is far from a toy store. His car also hoards other eccentric belongings such as extension cords and band-aids.

Roll the dice, pick your player and gear up for an intense round of Homecoming. The week-long celebration of school spirit starts on Oct. 4. And with "Board Games" as this year's theme, all classes are starting to get competitive although there will be some new rules this round.

Depending on the Supreme Court's decision in the next upcoming term, it is possible that a California law saying video games such as "Halo", "Call of Duty", "Grand Theft Auto" and "Counter-Strike" may only be sold to those ages 18 years or older could be reversed.

"Inside the circle are 300 things nobody understands and, maybe, nobody's ever seen/How many can you find?" The students in several different English classes looked up at the stage, listening in wonder to the words of Erica Goss.

As proms come and go, many students are getting geared up towards finding the perfect everything for the dance. The perfect dress, the perfect shoes and perfect hair are common, but for a Mississippi student named Constance McMillen, 18, prom means having to go to court to fight for her right to attent.

Concussions, dislocated arms, pulled hamstrings; the list of injuries sustained by the Falcons goes on and on. Five starters, senior Adam Oreglia, juniors Alex Polcyn and James Hadid, sophomore Nicolas Doyen and freshman Chance Cox are all sidelined due to injury. "[The injuries happened] one after another and for the next two or three games we just had a really hard time coming back, but we won on Saturday against a team [Archbishop Mitty] that we probably shouldn't have," said Oreglia.

A Los Gatos lacrosse player sprints toward the goal, fakes left, fakes right, then swiftly heaves a 70-mile an hour toss at the net. While most people's reaction would be to duck or run, junior Gavin Peake calmly catches the ball in the mesh of his glove. As the sole goalie on the varsity lacrosse team, Peake is essential to the Falcons' success, yet most people forget just how much pressure rests on the shoulders of the goalie. "Sometimes it's all lot of pressure on me if we're in a close game, then the team blames me if I'm supposed to save it, but I understand that," said Peake.

Among the swarm of students leaving the school on March 25, five students and a teacher from Niigata, Japan, waited in the Japanese classroom to meet their host sisters and brothers for the first time. For most of the Japanese students, it was also their first time being in America.

Is California a failed state? This is a question closely deliberated by many politicians such as previous Gov. Gray Davis and billionaire candidate Meg Whitman, whose ads for governor blanket the airwaves.

For most people, the sea conjures up images of serenity. Cool waves, glistening dolphins and the harmony of marine life come to mind. The harsh reality, though, is that this peace has been tarnished by humankind. In Japan, dolphin poaching is prevalent, and in some bays the blood has dyed the water into a sickly blood red. It is also no secret that sharks are often captured, have their fins cut off, and are thrown, crippled and vulnerable, back into the waters. Despite such appalling occurences, little has been done.

As the spring season begins, morale is high on the varsity boys lacrosse team. They have better players, a new coach and more effective practices. "[Head Coach Larry Boehm] is a lot better motivator than our old coach was. Our stick skills are definitely a lot better this year than last year," said senior co-captain and midfielder Danny Baldwin. According to Baldwin, not only is the new coach a better motivator, he is also knowledgeable about the game and is able to encourage the boys to try harder things to improve, according to Baldwin.

Saturday morning rolls around and a group of students wearily trudge up the steps to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. library in San Jose. Junior Grace Kim, Synthia Ling and Kevin Mu are here to complete research on the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. They are working on a short document about her life in time for History Day in June.

Sure, the Internet is convenient. Sure, it's fun, practical, and entertaining. However, its ability to be dangerous is no secret, thanks to the multitude of sketchy strangers lurking online.

Over the past months, the usage of drones as a weapon of war has become increasingly popular, most notably against Taliban leaders in Pakistan. Drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, are shipped out to Pakistan while being remote-controlled from locations such as the Creech Air Force Base, a location not far from Las Vegas, Nevada. This poses quite a gamble when it comes to human life; namely, the mass destruction of the weapon.

The way sophomore Tonio Galoic sees it, his ability to speak Croatian and English is no big deal. At first glance, Galoic seems like just another student looking for his next class. Even when he speaks English, it sounds as if he has lived in the U.S. for his entire life. Without being told, it is doubtful that anyone could know that Galoic came from Croatia. Galoic also said he feels right at home in such a diverse high school, where languages besides English are commonly spoken at home. "It's normal because everyone here speaks a different language too," Galoic said.

When students do poorly in school or just feel less energetic than normal, they usually attribute it to homework, family or outside activities. However, these problems might not always be the cause. In fact, it could just be a case of bad Feng Shui. Feng Shui, an ancient Chinese practice, is designed to improve one’s life by receiving positive energy. It directly translates to "water-wind" in Chinese and can be used to improve overall health, luck and finances.

On daily basis, President Barack Obama gives speeches. His speeches are full of hope and determination for the future, and they're often inspiring. But the concrete achievements he talks about are not anywhere close to completion. His problems is that he seems to think that these promises are fulfilled simply by making speeches about them, and more speeches about the next bout of promises. This cannot even be called a vicious circle. Instead, it's more like a long, ever-lasting and dreary...speech.

Club Day took place in the quad on Sept. 23, as students browsed and signed up for some of the 57 clubs on campus. The event passed by with few troubles considering the addition of seven clubs to the multitude of groups already available. However, this year, the Associated Student Body (ASB) will be taking more measures to ensure the validity of the new clubs.

Having to do school service for a semester or two to fill in schedule gaps may not seem like a big issue, but students, particularly the juniors and seniors who are mostly able to drive, wonder why they aren't allowed off campus instead.